CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Tennessee Department of Health officials announced Tuesday that the state will move into Phase 1c of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine phase on Monday, March 8.

The announcement comes just eight days after the state and county moved to Phase 1b, which made staff members of kindergarten through 12th grade schools, pre-school teachers and staff, childcare facility personnel, and first responder operations personnel eligible for the vaccine.

Phase 1c

Phase 1c includes those who are 16 years or older with high-risk health conditions, caregivers and those who share a household with persons 16 and younger who have high-risk health conditions and pregnant women.

The high-risk conditions included in the state’s risk-based priority list for Phase 1c are as follows: chronic renal disease, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, moderate-severe asthma, obesity (BMI >30), heart failure, CAD, cardiomyopathies, hypertension, sickle cell (not including sickle cell trait) or thalassemia, cerebrovascular disease or stroke, dementia or liver disease.

Under the new phase, individuals with immuno-compromising conditions are also eligible: those receiving chemotherapy, requiring daily oral steroids or other immunosuppressants, requiring medication to control diabetes, those with HIV, AIDS or other diagnosed high-risk immunodeficiencies.

This also includes technologically dependent individuals who are 16 years and older. Technologically dependent is defined by the state as someone who is ventilator-dependent, oxygen-dependent, with tracheostomy, wheelchair-bound due to high-risk medical condition, requires tube feedings, parenteral nutrition, or is on dialysis.

At some point Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, the state’s Phase 1c definition changed on their website to include those who are caregivers or household residents of medically fragile children who are under 16 years old.

Medically fragile is defined as technologically dependent individuals, immunocompromised individuals, individuals with diabetes requiring medication, individuals with complex congenital or life-threatening cardiac conditions requiring ongoing medical management, and individuals qualifying for a Katie Beckett waiver.

New vaccine

Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said Tuesday that the reason for the move up to the next phase of the state’s vaccine distribution plan was because of low demand and a high number of vaccine appointments available around the state.

However, the move to Phase 1c is also because there’s a third COVID-19 vaccine available.

On Feb. 27, the Food and Drug Administration approved Johnson & Johnson’s version of the COVID-19 vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna versions, which requires two doses for full effectiveness, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only one shot,

“You just put it in a refrigerator. It’s very easy to handle. It doesn’t have nearly the stringent storage and handling requirements that the Pfizer and Moderna products do,” Piercey said.

Montgomery County Health Director Joey Smith also said there were a lot of available appointments around town, and added his excitement about the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“This is fantastic news. With (Johnson & Johnson) being shipped and so many sites with vaccine and open appointments, this will help a lot of people in our community,” Smith said.

Piercey said the state is expecting to receive 54,000 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine Wednesday. After that shipment, there will be no more doses of the Johnson & Johnson delivered to the state of over the next two weeks, and then shipments are expected to resume.

Find a vaccine location

To see where you can get a vaccine in the Clarksville-Montgomery County, visit Clarksville Now’s full list of vaccine locations in the area.

Piercey also mentioned vaccinefinder.org, which is a new web-based interface that shows where vaccines are available in a certain location. The interface also allows users to sort results based on the brand of vaccine, be it Moderna, Pfizer, or the new Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.

Correction: The first version of this story stated that those who share a household with someone who has one of the high-risk, qualifying conditions determined by the state’s Phase 1c were also eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It appears as though the state’s COVID-19 vaccine Phase 1c definition has changed to only include those who are caregivers or share a household with children who are under 16 years of age with a high-risk condition. The story has been updated.